In some situations, a student will be entitled to receive a refund from a university. For example, a student who needs to pay ten thousand dollars in tuition and who receives fourteen thousand dollars in financial aid could be entitled to a four thousand dollar refund from the university. Moreover, a university policy and/or a governmental regulation might require that the refund be provided to the student within a pre-determined period of time. For example, the United States Department of Education (DOE) might require that certain refunds be transferred from a university within fourteen days. This can be a difficult task, especially when a significant number of refunds need to be provided and/or when different students want to receive refunds in different ways (e.g., by a direct deposit to a bank account or a paper check mailed to a student's address). For example, in order to transfer a refund amount from a university within a pre-determined period of time, the university might attempt to collect transfer instructions (e.g., bank account numbers) from students before the refund amounts are determined. In some cases, however, a student might not provide the proper instructions in a timely manner. As a result, the university might need to print a paper check for such a student and wait for the student to retrieve the check from a Bursar's Office. Such an approach, however, can cause confusion (for both the student and the university) and might prevent the student from receiving the refund in way he or she prefers.
In addition to any timeliness requirements, a university policy and/or a governmental regulation might mandate that student refunds be adequately insured or otherwise protected (e.g., to protect students if a bank or other institution becomes insolvent). For example, state law might require that all student refunds associated with state universities be kept in accounts that are fully insured. Such a requirement can complicate transactions for a university (e.g., a bank holding refund payments for a university might need to deposit an equivalent amount of its own funds in yet another bank). Note that failing to comply with any of these requirement might have serious consequences for a university (e.g., it might be disqualified from participating in a financial aid program).